Popeyes Chicken Sandwiches Are Back on the Menu This Sunday … When Chick-fil-A Is Closed
Throw up the chicken sandwich signal, for the White Meat Knight has returned. Popeyes has just announced that, after ruling the summer, more Popeyes Chicken Sandwiches are on the way very soon. And the news came with a bit of shade on the side for Popeyes’ closest competitor, Chick-fil-A.
The Popeyes Chicken Sandwich returns to Popeyes' restaurants nationally on November 3, which, as we all know, is the famous holiday National Sandwich Day. November 3 is a Sunday, and don’t think for a moment that’s a detail that slipped by the Popeyes braintrust. In a YouTube video uploaded this morning, Popeyes announced “Y'all ... The Sandwich is back. This Sunday. Yes. Sunday."
In other words, the advertisement proclaimed that the godless heathens Popeyes are open on Sundays, as opposed to Chick-fil-A, which is famously closed on Sundays for religious purposes.
The New Orleans-based fast food company -- a subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International -- unveiled the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich, a Nawlins-style fried chicken sandwich on a brioche bun, this summer on August 12. It was an immediate hit, kicking off a great deal of social media meme squawking between rival fast food chains, and generating what Forbes described as “$65 million worth of equivalent media value as a result of the Chicken Sandwich Wars.” Some outlets found the hype to be a bit of overkill. Regardless, consumers were now aware that they could get sandwiches at Popeyes, instead of just the traditional breast and legs meals. If only Popeyes could keep them in stock.
The chicken sandwiches were such a hit that by August 27, Popeyes announced that all of its restaurants were out of stock a bit earlier than expected (franchises had been given three months worth of ingredients for the meal), which proved once and for all that a good meme can really boost sales. Popeyes has always intended for the sandwich to be a permanent menu addition, as this was not planned to be a seasonal dish that disappears for a while in order to increase buzz. (Looking at you, McRib.)
Fox Business reported that Popeyes was having trouble finding suppliers, many of whom had exclusive contracts with other chains. But that’s been squared away, and now Popeyes is ready to get to business, having hired 400 new employees, “with at least two new staff members per franchise dedicated specifically to meeting the expected chicken sandwich demand.” That’s certainly something to cluck about.